Crybaby
by iNagare
Summary: What happens to Hermione when Harry asks Luna out to Slughorn's Christmas party?  Squeezed to Chapters 16 and 17 of HBP. :


**Crybaby **

by iNagare

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Hermione Granger scurried away from Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood as soon as Harry gave her her books. She heard Luna and Harry discussing about her behavior, how upset she was, and how terrible she felt.

"I'm fine", she repeated to herself softly, "I'm fine." But even if she told herself that, the pain in her chest continued aching, and all she wanted to do was to go to a place far, far away.

Hermione was walking so fast, she didn't realize where she was going. Suddenly, she felt as if she bumped somebody and fell on the floor. Clumsy Hermione, gawky Hermione, nerdy Hermione, they were names that she was so used to hearing now. But she wondered if Ron had ever seen her that way. Would he ever fancy her? Why did he have to be so unkind, yet, Hermione turned a blind eye to all of his flaws?

_Ron was horrible_, she thought miserably. The tears she had just stopped flowing a while ago came flowing down her cheeks, and she just sat down at the corridor, softly sobbing on the horrible things Ron said.

"Oi! Granger, don't start crying on me!" a shrill, yet masculine voice boomed. Though it sounded irritated, it also seemed slightly gentle.

Hermione was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she forgot that she even bumped to anybody. She looked up and saw Draco Malfoy, the last person she wanted to see, looking at her tear stained face, with a look of embarrassment on his own.

Hermione wiped her eyes almost immediately, grabbed her school things and stood up without a word. She had no strength to argue with Draco, let alone his teasing. She had enough of people lowering her almost non-existent self-esteem.

Just as she was going to walk away, Draco's hand grabbed her wrist tightly. "What was that about Mudblood?" he spat as his pale, yet handsome features turn arrogant and irate.

Hermione faced him with a fierce expression on her face. She would not let him see her at her weakest. "It's none of your business Malfoy," she snapped at him as she tried to retrieve her wrist, to no avail. "And give me back my hand. You might end up in the Infirmary Wing with a Muggle cold or something."

"I'm not going to let go unless you tell me what's with you," Draco began, "and I wouldn't care if you'd give me a Muggle cold or something like that." The last part of his sentence was said softly, as if he was speaking to himself.

"Let-me-go!" she screeched as she tried to wrestle her wrist free from his grasp. He had a firm grip, and it was especially hard that Hermione was holding her school things in her other arm. "Let me go Draco Malfoy, or I will…" Hermione said as she tried to think of a threat.

"What? Put me in detention? Or tell on me to that idiot Potter and that Blood Traitor Weasley?" Draco teased as he gave her a smug grin.

At the sound of Ron's last name, Hermione's lip quivered, but she would not let him get the best of her. He had teased her in ways far more worse than that. She would have to remain calm.

"Why would I tell Ron?" she muttered as she stopped pulling away from Draco. She hung her head in defeat and stared at her school shoes. "It's not as if he cares."

Hot tears blurred her vision as they fell, but Hermione took no notice of them as Draco let go of her grip and closed in the distance between them. He was so close; she could feel his breath on her ears.

"Is it something about Weasley?" he whispered softly, almost gently. He closed his arms around Hermione, giving her a hug.

Hermione dropped her school things and wrapped her arms around his back. For a while, she forgot that she was hugging and crying on the shoulder of Draco Malfoy, a Death Eater's son and her worst enemy since the day they met. All she knew was that somebody was comforting her, and that was all that mattered.

But their hug only lasted a few minutes before Hermione stopped crying, and started hiccupping. She realized that she was not in the arms of who she believed to be a caring friend, but in Draco Malfoy's.

She pushed him away rather abruptly, and he gave her a rather confused look. They stared at each other for a while, but Hermione was filled with so much embarrassment, she began picking up her things from the floor, too preoccupied to remember to use her wand.

Hermione felt Draco's gaze behind her back, and she wished he would just go away. But when she stood up again, he was there, still observing her, with a glint of interest in his eyes.

"It's not about Ron Weasley," Hermione said.

"I'd like to believe that," he smirked.

"Well, believe whatever you want to believe," Hermione shrugged as she turned her heel. As she was about to depart to the Fat Lady's portrait, she had an idea.

"Hey Malfoy! MALFOY!" she cried as she waved her free hand in the air, as if she was in a class and desperately wanted to be called by the professor.

Draco turned around and faced her, "What?" he asked rather irately, but amused.

"Would you want to go to Slughorn's party with me?" Hermione was sure that Ron would be peeved about that.

"I've got more important things to do, Mudblood. I don't waste my time in stupid parties like that," was Draco's cold reply. He stomped off to the Slytherin common room, leaving Hermione rather dumbstruck.

Just a while ago, he was almost human. Hermione was wondering what that was about, but decided to stop pondering on the mystery of Draco Malfoy's character. Maybe he would discuss that with his friends and talk about how much of a crybaby she was about Ron.

Hermione waited for him to say something about it, but he didn't.

He never did.

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**A/N:** I haven't gone writing in a while, so this is kinda like a little break from my 6 month hiatus. Sorry if it's a bit OOC, I'm so terrible in thinking of cute romance scenes for Dramione (I like reading Dramione fanfic though, so I'm jealous with all of the cool plots and stories I've read) and sorry for the lame ending too. TToTT This was kinda squeezed into Chapters 15 and 16 in HBP. Forgive me, I'm so hopelesssssssssssss. OTL


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